What are some of the varieties of English?

Answer 1

The variants of English are beyond counting. There are two main dialects of English, each with it own many regional variants. The Anglic dialect, in which the better part of Anglo-Saxon literature was written and which gives its name to the language as a whole, is spoken in the far North of England and especially in Scotland, where it is called Scots, Lallands or Doric, and has innumerable local variants.

In the rest of England and the English-speaking world, the Saxon dialect, known as Standard English, is spoken. Innumerable local dialects of English are spoken in England, and it has national forms in all the territories of the old British Empire: there is American Standard English; Canadian Standard, Indian and even Scottish Standard English ( not be confused with Scots!); Australian Standard English; and so on.

American English has its greater dialects, too, from New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Deep South, the Southwest and the Midwest - all with substantial local variation. And it has Nation-wide cultural dialects like Black English and Spanglish.

Wherever Standard English is spoken there is also the matter of register. English has a sliding scale of correctness; at the top is the literary dialect, spoken at home by the social elite and educated people generally, and expected in formal situations and in writing. Most people speak less correctly at home without offense. There is business English, Army English, TV News English, slang, jive and so on down to the expletive-laden but otherwise inarticulate cries of rage and pain called Street English.

Answer 2

Varieties of the English language include American English, British English, and African-American English. There are also Chicano English and Canadian English.